Malaysians who registered as voters in India denied nation’s citizenship

KUALA LUMPUR - Many Malaysian-born “citizens” have complained that their citizenship have been revoked in the country after they were discovered to be registered voters in India.

According to The Star, among such citizens include 49-year-old Anne Clljudis who stayed on in India after she married an Indian national at 19.

“When we arrived here to renew her passport in 2004, Immigration officers confiscated her passport and identity card as soon as we touched down at KL International Airport,” the paper quoted her husband George Stanley, as saying.

He said that they were detained there for 36 hours with their daughter, who had accompanied them from India, before being allowed to proceed to the Immigration Department to retrieve Clljudis’ documents.

He said they were then passed around from the NRD to the Home Ministry but the couple was left disappointed when Home Ministry officers instructed Clljudis to apply for permanent resident (PR) status first.

“But she is a Malaysian and not a foreigner. How can she apply for PR status?” Stanley asked.

This is not the plight of Clljudis alone. Singaporean P. Vijayagopal is among many.

“I received a notice of his citizenship revocation in 1995 by the NRD after it found that he was registered as a voter in India in September 1988. Now, he is stranded there with no work and has to rely on me for financial support,” his father Gopal Krishan said.

Suhakam commissioner James Nayagam said he had received calls from people who had experienced the same problem.

“All of them are at their wit’s end as they do not know where else to go, Suhakam will look into other avenues to find a solution to this issue,” he added.